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The Plague 

of U-J^lziS 

Kaiserdom 



By WILLIAM V. COWAN 

State Chairman, " Four- Minute Men" 



Issued Under the Auspices of 

THE STATE COUNCIL OF DEFENSE 

Sacramento, California 

February 15, 1918 



California State Printing Office 

Sacramento 

19 18 



OCT 



Of ^•' 

6 1929 






THE PLAGUE OF KAISERDOM. 



Not many years ago the world was congratu- 
lating itself on having emerged from the Dark 
Ages ; much was said about the abolition of war ; 
peace palaces were built, and every crowd gave 
its applause at the mention of a world-wide 
brotherhood. 

The Story of the Past had been written in the 
terms of human misery and, as it had been told 
and retold, we turned the pages indifferently. 
Hungry ligns devouring men and M^omen in the 
arena ; Nero playing his harp happily while 
Rome burned; the human sacrifices to Baal; 
the rack, the ordeals, witchcraft, the savagery 
of redskins ; all these were taught in school only 
as mere matters of history. 

There wei'o also tales of the ancient ferocity 
of the Germans. How they had drunk human 
blood from luunau skulls and how they had car- 
ried off captive women into the Black Forests. 

But that, too, was mere history. It did not 
concern us much. AVe boasted of our wondrous 
civilization ; how human nature had improved, 



and we said that if in the remote possibility of 
things there should be a war, it would be a 
humane war. 

Had not all nations signed a contract to this 
effect?^ Was there not honor among nations — 
particularly great civilized nations? 

And so we built our Peace Palaces, basked in 
the sun — most of us — and smoked our pipes of 
contentment. 

Particularly did we so in America. Yet, not- 
withstanding our own good feeling toward man- 
kind, the thunder cloud rolled across Belgium 
and into France, across Poland and into Russia, 
across Serbia and into Asia. But we heeded it 
not. We looked on in bewildered apathy as if 
gazing at an intense panorama in a moving pic- 
ture house. And so some of us continued to 
count our shekels and reach out for more; others 
looked on indifferently and said: It is not our 
affair. 



And then there came a day when the Lusitania 
and those other ships were sent deep into the 
sea. We looked up from our pipes for a moment, 
said a few naughty words, listened to weak apol- 
ogies, and then returned again to our pipes. 

The tinkle of coins, the ease of luxury, the 
complacent knowledge of latent power, the 
worryless contentment of peace at any price, 
lulled us into drowsy indifference. 



'Regulations of The Hague. 
(4 ) 



Now and then, for a short afternoon, we 
would strut about with our swagger-stick, and 
believe that we had frightened the lawless ones. 

But a plague is a plague. A malignant dis- 
ease can not be driven away by rhetoric or 
Fourth of July speeches. 

For a decade and more Prussian writers and 
army men wrote of the unkind things that 
they would some day do to the rest of the world. 
With cynical frankness Bernhardi proclaimed 
the ultimate crushing of the British and the 
French ; proclaimed that might is right ; that war 
is justifiable and is smiled upon by Providence.^ 
Others brazenly spoke of the time when Germany 
Avould subdue and plunder America. But in the 
main such preachments fell on deaf ears. 

"The desire for peace has rendered most civ- 
ilized nations anemic, and marks a decay of 
spirit and political courage," said Bernhardi.^ 

"Woe and death unto those who oppose my 
will. Death to the infidel who denies my mis- 
sion. Let all the enemies of the Germnn nation 
perish. God demands their destruction," 
said Kaiser William II.* 

"Bismarck would have never made the mis- 
take of asking for his country a military equip- 
ment sul'liciently ]iowei'i'ul to fight England, 

2"Germany ami llie Next W^ar," by F. von Bernhardi, 
1912 

3"'Germanv and the Next War," page 17. 
*"Out of Their Own Mouths," page 4. 



(5) 



France and the Slav masses, only to keep it 
unemployed during long years of peace," said 
Maximilian Harden in 1913. 

"Of late years we G-ermans have had cause 
for political irritation with the United States, 
due largely to commercial reasons" . . . 

"The question for us to consider is what 
plans must eventually be developed to put a 
stop to the overreachings by the United States 
which are detrimental to our interests. It is 
by armed action that we must ultimatel.v en- 
force our will upon that country," wrote Baron 
von Edelsheim in 1901.^ 



And then the Baron went on to tell how it 
should be accomplished. Among other things he 
would seize Atlantic seaports and levy upon 
them heavy war contributions. 

In fact, German military and naval men fre- 
quently and frankly boasted of plans to subdue 
England, France and America. "In our next 
war, 'World power or downfall!' will be our 
rallying cry," said Bernhardi.® 

At all this France looked on unbelievingly; 
England turned up her nose in contempt ; Amer- 
ica gave an extra (luartcr to the fiddler, heaped 
lu r l)anquet plates and danced merrily to the 
tiuH'. "I didn't rai.s(> my boy to be a soldier." 



="Out of Their Own Mouths," page 80. 
"See, also, "Gems (?) of German Thought," by William 
Archer. 



(6) 



]5ut it happened. It happened. 

It was a sunny day in a snnny month. 

The French were busy with their fashions. 
In Paris there was revelry and song. 

The Belgians toiled in their fields in innocent 
happiness and content. In Brussels they made 
their lace. 

The English fox-hunted in sportive chase. 
From Liverpool ships pursued the commerce of 
peace. I>om Manchester there was a ceaseless 
flow of the implements of peace. 



But it happened. 

Like a thief in the night, when his powder- 
house was filled, the Kaiser touched the match. 



In a Serbian village, a degenerate son of Haps- 
burg was assassinated. There is strong belief it 
was by German intrigue. 

But any excuse will do when an excuse is 
needed. 



Then came the iuterminable tramp of Prussian 
troops. 

All day long and all night long. 
Tramp, tramp, a ceaseless tramp. 



(7) 



And Ihen, out of the tuniiilt and noise of 
battle, be,yond the dugout and the screech of 
sliell, came the agonizing cry of noncombatants. 

There were stories of debauchery, of rape and 
of murder — stories of cities and towns being 
wiped from the earth — hellish stories of hellish 
scenes. 



France doubtfully investigated. 

England disbelieved. 

America laughed at the very idea. 



But the proofs came thick and fast. Affidavit 
upcn affidavit were filed in government archives. 
Judicial testimony was taken. Voluminous 
diaries of German soldiers were collected. 
Bryce and men of like chara(^ter were selected 
to make investigations. Neutral visitors wrote 
and talked." 

And too, there were those that escaped across 
the fields of liquid-fire — wounded men and 
maimed women, pri.soners and priests, nurses 
and nuns and children. 

And the stories were the same. 

"Tn (Hiristian countries murder is a grave 
crime ; amongst a people Avhere blood-ven- 
geance is a sacred duty it can be regarded as a 
moral act, and its neglect as a crime," Avrote 
Ik^rnhardi in 1912.8 



"See "The Deportation of "^''omen and Girls from Lille," 
by the French Government. 

8"Germany and the Next War," page 3. 

( 8 ) 



' ' The German people is always right, because 
it is the German people. Our fathers have left 
US much to do," wrote Von Tannenberg in 
1911.^ 

"Be as terrible as the Huns under Attila," 
said the Kaiser to his soldiers a few years be- 
fore the war.^** 



And so churches were profaned, priests mur- 
dered, boys driven into exile, women-folk handed 
over to the lust of licentious soldiery, homes 
burned and destroyed, towTis and cities oblit- 
erated. 

History reveals no greater savagery. Not in 
darkest Africa or the pioneer forests of 
America. 



"As the German troops passed through the 
communes and towns of the arrondissements of 
Ypres, ITazebrouck, Bethime and Lille, they shot 
indiscriminately at the innocent spectators of 
their march; the peasant tilling his fields, the 
refugee tramping the roads, and the workman 
returning- to his home. * * * Old men and boys, 
and even women and young girls were shot like 
rabbits. "11 



""Out of Their Own Mouths," page 79. 

"*M. Proclamation. 

""German Atrocities" by J H Morgan. See, also "The 
Ci'imes of Germany," issued by the London Field ; also, 
"Germany's Violations of the Laws of War," issued by the 
French Government. 



( 9) 



People in liidinsf in the cellars of houses have 
heard the voices of women in the hands of Ger- 
man soldiers crying all night long until death 
or stupor ended their agonies.^- 

Liviug screens of priests, old men, and women 
with babes at the breast were thrust between 
German troops and the enemy. ^^ 

"Soft-hearted men put the French wounded 
out of their misery with bullets; the others hew 
and stab whenever they can * * * but whether 
they are slightl}'^ or mortally wounded, our brave 
musketeers save the Fatherland the costly care 
of numerous enemies. "^^ 

A hairdresser was murdered in his kitchen 
where he was sitting with a child on each knee.'^ 

Priests in particular were insulted by the sold- 
iers who cried incessantly, "Down with Cathol- 
icism ! Death to Priests! All priests should be 
shot!"^« 

Twenty-five priests were held as prisoners in 
one place and continually insulted by guards. 



'^"German Atrocities," page S9. 

''"German Atrocities," page 43. (Reported by France 
and Britain. ) 

'^German officer in new.spaper article "Out of Their Own 
Mouthis," page 191. 

'"Bryce Report, page 15. 

'""The Germans in Belgium," by L. H. Grondys, page 24. 

( 10 ) 



At another place two priests were made to pump 
water two hours for a company of soldiers; an- 
other was hnno- three times and left for dead.^'^ 



A young Jesuit priest of Belgium wrote in his 
note book : 

"When formerly I read that the Huns 
under Attila had devastated towns, and that 
the Arabs had burnt the Library of Alex- 
andria, I smiled. Now that I have seen with 
my own eyes the hordes of today, burning 
churches and the celebrated Library of Lou- 
vain, I smile no longer." 

In punishment therefor he was shot in the 
presence of thirty priest prisoners Avho were 
made to watch his death agony.^^ 



At Andenne, Belgium, after placing her hus- 
band close to a machine gun and shooting 
through him, soldiers ransacked the wife's home, 
piled up all eatables in a heap on the floor and 
relieved themselves upon it.^" 

At Malines one witness saw a German soldier 
cut a woman's breasts after he had murdered her, 
and saw many other dead bodies of women in the 
streets.^" 



''"The Germans in Belgitmi," by K H. Grondys, page 27. 
""Tlie Germans in Belgium, " hy Ia H, Grondys, page 69. 
'"Bryce Report, page 1 5. 
-'"Bryce Report, page 25. 



( 11 ) 



"I am sending yon a bracelet made out of a 
piece of a shell," wrote a Bavarian soldier to his 
betrothed. "This will be a fine souvenir of a 
German warrior, who has gone through the Avhole 
campaign and has killed heaps of Frenchmen. I 
have also bayoneted a good number of women. 
During the battle of Budonwiller, I did away 
with four women and seven young girls in five 
minutes. The captain had told me to shoot these 
French sows, but I preferred to run my bayonet 
through them. "^^ 

At Boort Meerbeek, a German soldier was seen 
to fire three times at a little girl of five years old. 
Having failed to hit her. he subsequently bay- 
oneted her. but Avas himself killed with the butt- 
end of a rifle in the hands of a Belgian soldier 
who from a distance had seen him commit the 
deed.^- 

At llaccht a child of two or three years old 
was found nailed to the door of a farmhouse by 
its hands and feet.-'' 

Near Malines a German soldier thrust his bay- 
onet through a suckling child after having killed 
its father and mother, then put his rifle on his 
shoulder with the child on it. "Its little arms 
.stretched out once or twice, ' ' said a witness. ^^ 



^'Letter of Bavarian soldier to his betrothed, "Out of 
Their Own Mouths," page 195. 
"Bryce Report, page 27. 
"^Bryce Report, page 28. 
^^''Bryce Report, page 25. 

( 12 ) 



The village of Lienclen was fired because one of 
the. inhabitants killed a German soldier. The 
latter, along with a companion, had violated a 
young girl after tjing her parents to chairs. The 
father freed himself from his bonds, seized a gun, 
and slew one of the aggressors. The German 
officers ordered fire set to the house, and the par- 
ents of the young girl, bound again to their 
chairs, perished in the flames.^^ 

A Sister of Mercy, wearing the sign of the Red 
Cross, was seized by the Germans and Austrians 
on the Russian front, beaten with swords and 
pricked with needles because she refused to give 
information regarding the Russians, and M'as 
later lodged with lustful German officers.-'^ 



"A private of my regiment and I in searching 
for doors for a roof for our dugout in a shell- 
ridden cottage in the vicinity of Ypres which was 
recently vacated by German soldiers, on entering 
the kitchen saw a woman dead in an upright posi- 
tion, her two hands, one on top of the ether, 
nailed to the wall. On a lamp hook hanging 
from the ceiling was a boy about three or three 
and a half years of age. The hook had been run 
through the back of his neck. The body was 
covered with blood which indicated he was 
hanged there during life. No other wound was 



=="The Germans in Belgium," by L. H. Grondys, page 24. 
=''"German Atrocities," page 88. 



(13 ) 



on tlic child or Avoinaii. Both had been dead 
;ip[)arcnt]y some tiiiio. This occurred a1)oiit 
April 22, 1915."" 

"German military usage has methods also of 
dealing with children. They have little hands 
that are delightfully easy to cut off. Their feet 
are barely attached to their legs at all. M. Le 
Senateur Henry Lafontaine — Nobel prizeman 
and famed for moderation and pacifism — has tes- 
tified in public meeting that children's nostrils 
and children's ears have been burnt with the 
flaring stumps of lighted cigars."-^ 

"The scene is a country-house near Antwerp. 
A merchant of the city has chosen to remain in 
his home, with his two daughtei^, aged respec- 
tively twenty and seventeen years. Both are 
beautiful, with that placidly joyful beauty that 
has distinguished Flemish women from the time 
of Rubens onwards. After the fall of Antwerp, 
the Germans spread about the neighborhood and 
several of^cers quarter themselves on the mer- 
chant, who has had the rash courage to stay on 
in his country house. Being a man of means he 
receives them with all the hospitality possible. 
The most comfortable bedrooms are given up to 
them ; for the first evening an abundant dinner 
is prepared. Five German officers sit down to 



-'Sergt. Albert Goatls of British Army at San T'"'raiici.sco 
in letter to author. 

!^"Bflgium's Agony," page 32. 

( 14 ) 



Ilii.s iijcjil, at wliicli there is every promise of 
plentiful wine as well as food. Unfortunately, 
however, drunkenness can not be pleaded in their 
defense. Before the feast begins at all, the Ger- 
man captain, the oldest and senior officer of the 
five, orders the owner of the house to be thrust 
into his own cellar, and the door guarded by two 
sentinels with loaded rifles and instructions to 
shoot, if necessary. 

This precaution having been taken, the two 
girls are connnanded by the revellers to undress. 
They protest, resist, implore. All in vain. As 
answer to their prayers the captain orders some 
of liis men to strip them naked and hold them 
during the meal before the leering eyes of the 
diners. At last, sated with eating and pleas- 
ingly drunk, the savages, before the amused eyes 
of the common soldiers, themselves reeling with 
drink, take the two poor children for their 
amusement. You will forgive me for not repro- 
ducing here the further details quoted by the 
I\Iinister of War. It is enough to say that when, 
the following morning, the merchant was set free 
from his prison, his daughters had been handed 
over to the tender mercies of the common sold- 
iery. One had gone raving mad ; the other has 
•sinrc- Icillod herself in shame and grief. "-^ 

This last, says Verhaeren, is the German pro- 
cedure fur wouKni who are not pledged to marr^^ 



""Belgium's Agony," pages 30-31. 
( 15 ) 



And so on in Belgium almost ad fiintem. 
And so on in Belgium ad nauseam. 



In that lovable land the Kaiser smeared the 
pastoral scenes with red in late summer — with 
burnt-umber in early autumn. There are vol- 
umes and volumes telling the horrid details. It 
makes one's blood pressure go up. No wonder 
the wounded boys in France fret to return to the 
battle front. 



And thereafter — thereafter ! 

— After these scenes of butchery and pillage 
and debauchery came 

■ — Starvation ! Deportation ! Slavery ! 

— Perhaps the little babe on the bayonet's end 
was happier after all. 

In June, the Belgian peasant smilingly began 
to save his mite for the Christmas to come. 

In December on a cattle car he was carried off 
into Saxony. 

— Breathing the air of freedom in June — a 
.slave in December. 



But it is useless to try to describe it all. The 
pen falls helplessly. Vocabularies are inade- 
quate. History records nothing like this; hence 
there are no words to fit, no phrases that fully 
apply. 

(16) 



But this is only Belgium. 

Aud still there is Northern France ! 

And Poland and West Russia ! 

And Serbia! 

And Armenia! 



In Poland there was systematic starvation of 
a mighty people ; also, a coal famine scientifically 
produced with German precision. 

Coal famines make cold homes. Cold homes 
breed tuberculosis. 

—And Prussia has found tuberculosis a useful 
implement Math which to eliminate undesired in- 
habitants of conquered provinces. It saves 
powder, does not dull bayonets, and is more 
scientific. 

And so, it is said that in Poland there are no 
children under seven years. 



And then there are other stories— many- 
many 1 

— Horrid, horrid tales of Pan-Germanism. 



In West Russia the peasants and all fled 
before the German advance. 

All day long ; all night long ; wearily, wearily 
they traveled eastward. 

On foot, by wagon, or horse. 

The procession moving no one knew whither. 

( 17 ) 



"Into tiu' unknown," shvs Doroslievilcli, 

"Silently, above all. 

The over-wearied horses do not shy when 
motor cars pass them. They do not even prick 
up their ears. 

And the dogs don't bark. 

Tlie people in the carts do not talk. 
— They have said all they've got to say. 

They move like gray shadows, like the dead. 

The peasant women are silent. 

Even the children do not cry. 

At the relief points, where thousands of 
people are gathered together, you are im- 
pressed by the silence. 

What a silent country it is! 

You can go for tens and for hundreds of 
versts — and still meet an almost uninterrupted 
stream of grey carts. 

Like a series of spectres. 

And silent, silent, silent. 

Nothing but hopeless boredom and grief in 
their eyes. 

Weary and indifferent faces, as of convicts 
being marched along the road. 

And only by the new white wooden crosses 
along the side of the road can you see how 
much suffering has silently passed there. * * * 

Along this 'Way of the Cross' takes place 
— A selection. 

A terrible 'natural' selection. 

All the weak ones perish. 

Both of people and cattle. 

They are tried by sickness, hunger and cold. 

Fi'om Baranovitch to Bobruisk, from Bol)- 
ruisk by way of Dovsk to Roslavl. and in 
Roslavl, all the weak ones remain behind."-"* 



'The Way of the Cross," by V. Doroshevitch. 
( 18 ) 



Hut what is the use of iiiiiltii>lyin}^ tales of 
horror? Why ajrjzravate th(! bittrrness of feel- 
ing? AVhy rake over tlie ofl'al and human debris 
in the Prussian path? 

There is a reason. 

In America there is a special reason. 

Here we have hardly bej^in to realize it alJ. 
The horse-laugh of unbelief has barely died from 
our lips. 

For a time, when we were watchfully waiting, 
insidious propaganda raised a doubt. 

It is reason enough. 

But there is another why and wherefore. 

Public opinion! World-wide public opinion! 

We should be informed. Speakers, public 
servants — ^men, women and children should 
know. 

For the sake of Posterity, we should know. 

"It is a safeguard against a relapse to 
barbarism," says Mr. Bryce. "Spread the 
knowledge so that war will become even a 
greater curse in the minds of men." 

Our children and their children should know- 
— Should be taught to shrink from the pUgne. 
— ^And thus, perhaps, prevent a recurrence. 
And too, they who stay at home should know 
what manner of foe our boys go forth to fight. 

li / :.: . ily, if these .stories do not move yon — 
you Hi <i ^ach of you — to a resolute purpose to 

(19) 



bend every thought and every act toward blot- 
ting the origin of this plague from the face of 
the earth, then the telling perhaps has been 
useless. 

But the deed can not be done by words or by 
noise, or by a false sense of security, or by an 
exaggerated idea of American valor, or by list- 
lessly leaving the matter to Fate, or by boasting 
of what we have already done in this war, or by 
singing "Over There," or by serving on com- 
mittees at noon and attending Hooverized ban- 
quets at night, or by reading about Molly Stark 
and Barbara Frietchie, or alone by buying Lib- 
erty Bonds, or by marching in parades, or by 
having war bread and a meatless meal only when 
we invite our friends in, or by saluting the flag 
or standing when the band plays "The Star 
Spangled Banner," or by following numerous 
fads and fancies, or b}^ shutting our eyes to the 
truth, or by believing every report of a riot or 
revolution in the enemy's country. 

— For remember, the enemy hears like tales of 
riot and revolution in your country. 

And remember, too, thus far Germany is the 
victor in this war. 

For two years and more she has had forty 
millions of people working for her as slaves.'^ 

Peace today means a Prussian victory. Peace 
today will endanger American freedom of to- 
morrow. 



^'Major G. M. P. Murphy, formerly In charge of Amer- 
ican Red Cross in Europe, on his return in January, 1918. 

( 20) 



True it is that German manpower is dimin- 
ished, that she has thrown millions into the fiery- 
furnace. So have England and France. 

Regretfully, I fear, so mnst we. 

How many must we sacrifice? 

That depends upon how earnestly we enter 
into the fight. That depends upon what sacri- 
fice you have made — you — you in your cozy chair 
at home near the fireside. 

Have you begun to sacrifice? If not, perhaps 
it is not yet too late. Soon it will be. 

And if it be too late, do you know what may 
happen? Can you realize? Do you understand ? 
Have 3^ou thought of it seriously? 

May God preserve the British Navy. 

May He sustain the thin line at the Front — 
French and English and Italian and the rest. 

All Heaven knows we need them. They are 
protecting America ! 

They can not defeat the Hun's forty years of 
preparation — but God grant that they can hold 
the line — hold it until we in America are ready 
to drive the hordes back. 

But if this thin line should fail! 

If Britain be starved ! If her Navy be 
scattered ! 

Then, added to the fifty millions in Europe, 
there may be the wail of a hundred million in 
America. 

( 21 ) 



Impossible, you say ? Stop ! You do not 
know the truth. You do not understand. You 
still hear those flamboyant July orations. 

Then, it may be — but God forbid — all day long 
and all night long; wearily, wearily Eastern 
Americans will travel westward. 

— And then oiur churches too will pray: "0 
Lord, remember those who wake this morning 
under the open sky." 

And like in Belgium, women and children will 
become the playthings of German lust !^^ 

And like in Poland, there Avill be organized 
famine and scientific starvation — especially in 
populous centers. 

And like in Belgium and Poland millions will 
become beggars. 

And like in France, the only social function 
will be the meeting to hear the list of wounded 
and dead, where the women folk will crowd for- 
ward to listen — and then some will drop a tear, 
some will smile hopefully, but many will sob 
witli a breaking heart. 

There will be insolence that knows no pity and 
feels no love. 

For the ruthlessness, the contempt for human 
life, the somber fatalism, the indifference to 
personal liberty, the chicanery, the love of es- 
pionage, the brutal bestiality of Prussia will be 
wreaked on America. 



"See "Der Tag for Us," by Samuol Blythc in Saturday 
Evening Post, Dec. 22, 1917. 

( 2Z ) 



Can we hope otherwise? 

Germany says she bore no hatred toward 
Belgium 

■ — But look at the rnins! 



"When the Lusitania went down, and the 
mothers and little ones on it, Germany declared 
a holiday and her children marched joyously in 
parade. 

the Plague of Kaiserdom ! The Plague of 
Kaiserdom ! 

For a quarter of a century this pestilential 
kultur germ has thrived in the Prussian Hot- 
house until Germanj^ has gone mad — until she 
has run amuck. 



Her whole people seem afflicted with the ac- 
cursed malady. 



Hear the poet Vierordt. 

"0 my Germany, into thy soul tliou must etch 
a deep and terrible hate. . . . Retribution, 
vengeance, fury are demanded ; stifle in thy 
heart all human feeling and hasten to the fight. 

' ' Germany, hate ! Slaughter thy foes by 
the millions and of their reeking corpses build 
a monument that shall reach the clouds. 



(23) 



"0 Germany, hate now! Arm thyself in 
steel and pierce with thy bayonet the heart 
of every foe ; no prisoners ! Lock all their life 
in silence; turn our neighbors' lands into 
deserts . . . Beat in their skulls Avith rifle butts 
and with axes." 



Hymns of Hate ! All Germany sings the 
chorus 

— Even the children, while old folk approve. 

— Even the clergy who pronounce a benedic- 
tion on blood-dripping hands. 

Do you understand what this means ? 

You — you farmers who dream of bigger crops ; 

You miners ; you workers in shop and factory ; 

You laborers, you greatest in numbers, who 
toil and sweat and strive and toil, 

— but return at night to a snug nest and re- 
freshing sleep ; 

You commuters who rush to ,your daily grind; 

You women smothered in feathers and furs, 
and in lace and linen; 

You men who follow your bent; 

You dreamers of luxurious homes in days to 
come ; 

You other men who make your business or pro- 
fession your religion and your god ; 

(24) 



You housewives whose daily moil is never at 
an end ; 

You giddy glgglers who skim the surface and 
seldom scratch into depths below; 

You, all of you — Americans all — 

Is it possible you can not or will not compre- 
hend ? 

Is it possible that you do not realize that the 
boys in the shell-shocked trenches are fighting for 
VOU — for YOUR freedom, for your protection? 

— For >our right to work for a living wage 
instead of working as a Prussian slave? 

— For your right to have your home, to read 
your paper, to express your every thought? 

■ — For your right even to enjoy your family 
and to keep your little ones playing unharmed 
about your feet? 



Where the Prussian blot has fallen, where the 
ITohenzollern has touched his reeking finger, all 
these little simple things of life have been denied 
the laboring folk, the farmer folk, and all. 



Therefore awalce ! Awake you farmers and 
laboring men, you housewives and all — Awake! 
This is your fight ! 

(25) 



Awake now! Must yon wait until the front 
page of the press be covered with red lists of 
dead and dying before you see the peril? 

— Before you discard the useless things ? 

— Before you strain every arm in the fight? 



Will you listen to words, or must you first see 
blood ? 

Will you heed the indisputable pictures drawn, 
or must you first look on the stark, stiff corpses 
of women and children, of innocent men run 
through, of soldier-prisoners crucified on dugout 
doors ? 

Must it first be proved to you logically, sta- 
tistically and in cold judicial reasoning? 

Where is the Red Blood of your ancestry? 
Has it stagnated in your scramble for greater 
ease and comfort? 



Until this danger, this red risk be passed — 
let us forget profit, ambition, partisanship — 
every little thing that does not help to win. 

The boys in the trenches endure the ceaseless 
swarms of lice and the sleek, hairless, vile- 
smelling rats; they dig in the mud through long 
winter mouths of homesickness and discomfort — 
;ind still they smile as they go. Surely you and 
I — you and I— in our cushioned chairs and soft 
beds can deny ourselves a few pleasures in order 
that those boys shall not have died in vain. 

(26) 



For if we remain indifferent, if we hesitate 
to sacrifice — if we fail to rush into the fray, it 
may be too late. 

And then the millions of French and Belgians 
and the others, will have died in vain. The world 
will go back to the Dark Ages and human 
freedom will be lost. 



The Plague of Kaiserdom ! 

On the Ganges there have been times when 
folk died by the hundreds of thousands from the 
pestilence. 

But the Plague of Kaiserdom ! 

It is festering and festering in Europe. 

Calculating, precise and cold-blooded ; 

Subtle, stealthy, insidious and uncanny, 

Its cankered poison crept into the flesh of 
Italy ; and into the vitals of Russia. 



And America has not escaped. 

Insidious propaganda, spurious tales, sly 
phrases, cunning remarks, rumors, malicious and 
mendacious, whisperings secret and subtle, creep, 
knowingly and unknowingly, into the press and 
the pulpit, into the club, the lodge, and the 
liome. If a public servant be zealous in his 
patriotic work, if a public or private institution 
does noble service in the fight, then soon there 
are whispers about— 

(27) 



Riiiiioi-.s, wlii.spers and ruiiiors: 

— The irian is not what he should be, or 

— The institution is useless, or 

— What's the use, there will soon be peace. 

And so forth. 



The base chord of prejudice and the high 
chord of passion are played upon in every varia- 
tion. There are lies that spring from nowhere. 
There are stories that can not be traced. 

So do not be deceived, you mothers, every pro- 
Gorman statement is a direct shot at the life of 
your boy in France. 



Wilhelm has a great Secret Army in America. 
It digs in among the ultra bigots, the govern- 
ment-destroyer, the greed}', the pacifist, the over- 
ambitious, the thoughtless — everywhere. 

As villainous as the sleek rats that dig into 
shell-craters and fatten on the dead, these secret 
soldiers of his — not always his countrymen — 
fatten on the putrescence of dead patriotism. 



Therefore beware, America ! Beware the plague 
of Kaiserdom ! 

There is grim business ahead. 



(28) 



It is well that all America be aroused to anger 

— Not to sing bitter hymns of hate and rejoice 
in butchery 

— But with anger enough to go at this grim 
job with relentless determination. 

It is regrettable, but there is no other way. 

— For we can not toy with leprosy, nor can Ave 
compromise with murder. 



( 29) 



mlmu,!^,!?.'^ °^ CONGRESS 

iilllllllllllillllllllllli 

015 900 871 A 



IN regard to these essential rectifications of wrong 
and assertions of right we feel ourselves to be 
intimate partners of all the governments and 
peoples associated together against the imperialists. 
We can not be separated in interest or divided in 
purpose. We stand together until the end. 

For such arrangements and covenants we are 
willing to fight, and to continue to fight, until they 
are achieved. * * * 

The moral climax of this culminating and final 
war for human liberty has come, and they (our 
United States) are ready to put their own strength, 
their own highest purpose, their own integrity and 
devotion to the test. 

WOODROW WILSON, 
Message to Congress, January 8, 1918. 

->c -K -k -K -k -K 

"I made the mistake of my career, when I had the 
opportunity, that I did not remove the Hohenzol- 
lerns from the throne of Prussia. As long as this 
house reigns and until the red cap of liberty is 
erected in Germany, there will be no peace in 
Europe." 

— Napoleon at St. Helena. 



